


On the Cusp

by betterTomorrows



Series: EllieDina Week March2021 [2]
Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Compliant, ELLIEDINA WEEK, F/F, Family time, Fluff, Future Fic, ish a little bit just a few years later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:26:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29815293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betterTomorrows/pseuds/betterTomorrows
Summary: Dina wakes up alone. Once downstairs, the scene that greets her is far from the aggression her mind prepared her for.----EllieDina Week: Day 12 - Prompt: Dawn
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Series: EllieDina Week March2021 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189691
Kudos: 61





	On the Cusp

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2 of EllieDina Week PROMPT: Dawn
> 
> My late submission and it's fluffy! I had a super angsty idea for this prompt but I decided to go for cute instead.

Dina wakes up coughing.

A tickle in her throat disturbs her sleep for the third time this week after finding her throat dried up during the night from sleeping with her mouth open. With blurry eyes and a groggy mind, she reaches for the glass of water on the bedside table for a quick drink.

When Dina’s coughs started becoming a nightly occurrence, Ellie made a point to leave a fresh glass of water for her at bedtime. Though the gesture was sweet, Dina initially thought it completely unnecessary.

“I just have to close my mouth shut or something, maybe we can tape it?” she had said.

“It’s just water, Babe,” Ellie shrugged, “what if a spider crawls in your mouth? You’d need water to wash it down with.”

Dina cringes at the thought of a spider making its way into her open mouth in her sleep. She lightly jabs her wife by the shoulder for the unwelcome image that assaulted her thoughts.

“Ow! What was that for?” Ellie winces.

“That’s for not making me feel better,” Dina grumbles.

She knows she’s being ridiculous, but she had never had a problem with breathing in her sleep before. Is one of things people had to endure when they reached their mid-twenties? Do people slowly lose control of their bodies, including not being able to close one’s mouth in their sleep?

“You have that Old Lady worried look in your eyes again,” Dina looks up. Years into their relationship and she still found with Ellie’s ability to know exactly what she’s thinking surprising. Ellie continues, “I read in a book that if you sleep with your mouth open, it just means you’re very relaxed. So, it’s a good thing. Not an ageing thing.”

“Did you really?” Dina asks hopeful.

Ellie shrinks on her spot and admits, “Ok, I just made that up. But it was convincing enough to make you feel better for a second, right?”

Dina struggles to fight the smile that forms on her lips. Instead, she stands on the tips on her toes to kiss her wife on the cheek and says, “I would have socked you again if you weren’t so adorable, you know.”

From that moment on, Dina began to sleep with a fresh glass of water on her bedside table.

After taking a couple sips of water, she turns around to face Ellie, only to find that the spot empty. Dina finally notices that the sheets had been wrapped around her body, like she was a burrito ready to be served for breakfast. Dina pats the vacant side of the bed a little shocked to feel how it felt under her palm.

How long has Ellie been up for?

Dina glances up at the clock in order to figure out the time, but her eyes are still blurry with sleep, and the room is still a bit too dark to see anything clearly, anyway. The darkness implies she had woken up in the nighttime, but the faint chirps of a few birds would say otherwise. A quick look out the window confirms her assumptions. It’s too early to be morning, and too bright to still be the middle of the night.

It must be dawn, or maybe just on the cusp of it.

Her wife’s absence mixed with the peculiar time of the day leaves Dina with an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. It’s been months since Ellie’s last nightmare, but she had woken Dina up that time. They spent the night talking, cuddling, and reassuring one another of their safety. It was always an unspoken rule of theirs, to wake the other when they had nightmares. So, what was different this time that Ellie couldn’t wake Dina up?

Dina shrugs the sheets aside, gets up, and envelopes herself in the sweater she leaves hanging on the hook next to their bed. Her feet dab the cold floor in search of the slippers she wears in the house.

A thud and the sound of muffled voices coming from the room below halts Dina’s search for the slippers. A slew of anxious thoughts floods her mind. Was there an intruder? Is Ellie in danger?

Dina grabs the bat she hides under the bed and rushes out of the room to make her way to the downstairs living area of the house. She was ready to attack whoever had decided to trespass her home and endanger her family at the break of dawn. Dina may have been out of patrol rotations for a few years, but she had always been up for a fight if it meant she was protecting her family.

Once downstairs, the scene that greets her is far from the aggression her mind prepared her for. The sigh of relief that leaves her is unheard by the two adorable dorks playing in the living room.

What she finds instead is her wife on her hands and knees with their son on riding her back. JJ is wearing Joel’s old jacket—now a beloved family heirloom— but after only ever seeing Ellie wear it for all his life, the little boy would argue that the jacket only ever belonged to his mom.

His small body is completely swimming in the oversized coat, making him look more like a small monkey in a cape than a small boy in an adult-sized jacket. A dark green beanie is atop his head, this one is new, Ellie found it at the trading store a mere two weeks ago. The cold weather prompted this new addition in her clothing after Dina persuaded her to get something warmer to wear on her head.

They had a long debate with about how Ellie’s cowboy hat Maria had gifted her would not be enough to keep her warm in the harsh Wyoming winter. Ellie yielded and wore the beanie in place of the cowboy hat for the winter.

Dina found the little pout on her wife’s face as the cutest thing to happen in the mornings when Ellie begrudgingly placed the hat on her head before leaving for work. She thought nothing would top that until she saw their son’s little brown eyes fighting to peek against the loose hat on his head. He kept one had tightly gripping Ellie’s shirt, while the other tried to keep the hat in place for him to see around him.

There’s a loud youthful squeal when JJ’s eyes land on Dina.

“What are you two doing up so early?” Dina eyes Ellie clearly directing the question to her.

“Mama! Mama, look!” JJ exclaims before Ellie could say anything, “guess who I am?”

Dina smiles, sits cross-legged on the floor, and says, “who are you, Spud?”

“I’m Mom, duh!” he smacks Ellie on the side causing her wife to grunt audibly, “and this is Japan!”

“Oh, you nailed it bud, you look just like your Mom on days when she’s too tired to dress properly.”

“Hey! I’m right here,” Ellie declared.

Dina fakes a loud gasp, “did you hear that, Spud? I think Japan just spoke English!”

JJ slowly falls off of Ellie’s back in a wild fit of giggles. Ellie takes this moment to stretch her legs on the floor and leans into Dina’s open arms. They sit quietly, watching as their son calms down from his high.

“You’re silly, Mama. Japan is a horse, he can’t talk. That was Mom talking.” JJ explains, before rushing out of the room, “I have to go potty!” and their son was gone in a flash, little footsteps fading toward the bathroom.

“So, _Japan_ …” Dina starts, earning a smirk from Ellie who is currently laying comfortably on the floor with her head resting on her wife’s lap, “why are you and Spud up at the crack of dawn?”

Ellie sighs and whispers, “Little Man had a rough night. He woke me up and you were sleeping peacefully so, we decided to come hang out down here instead.”

Dina hums in understanding. She kisses the top of Ellie’s head and offers an idea that pops in her head, “why don’t we go watch the sun rise, then?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know if you like it. Stay safe!


End file.
